limited slip rear vs. locking diff.

I'm looking at 09 Tacoma it has the SR5 package. It is 4x4 with limited slip, with just normal four wheeling do you need a locking diff. What is the good points an the bad?

 

Rear Locker is superior to limited slip in gaining traction

 

Limited slip & locker are basically what they say.


Limited slip- limits slip of the wheels. Fairly useless.

Locker- locks both rear wheels together. Zero difference of wheel speed between the rear tires when the locker is engaged.

 

The benefit of a rear locker is when one of the wheels has no traction and the other one does, all the power gets transferred to the wheel that has traction.

 

Not quite..


Each tire gets the same amount of torque, always. Whether a tire is on the ground or in the air.

 

Kind of a big question there. It all boils down to what your doing with your truck. If you aren't offroading too much, i would just stick with the truck your looking at. The sport and offroad models both act the same in 2wd and 4hi, but the offroad has atrac and then the locker in 4lo which is a key factor when buying a tacoma for alot of people. I offroad about every other wknd here in the S.E. and i've never really had an issue with getting stuck. I have a 2010 sport which doesnt have a locker, but have done the yellow wire mod which helps a little. Use the search button on here and you will find alot of valuable info. There are a ton of right ups on this topic. Either way, you will end up with a nice truck. And if you decide you need a locker in the future, get an ARB and be done.

 

Isn't that what limited slip is technically supposed to do? I know it doesn't work right but that's the idea behind it. With a locker, they both spin at the same rate and torque whether they have traction or not.

 

so very true. LS sux ass for off roading.

 

When the rear is locked all torque is transferred to both wheels equally. When one wheel is in the air free spinning, it on uses the torque required to move the wheel. The rest is used by the wheel that is on the ground. Wheel speed is the same.

 

With limited slip in a off road condition, it basically delays when the slip will occur. It can not prevent wheel slip from happening. Don't expect to get out of a situation with limited slip.

 

Another thing to consider is that in 09 they went from a true mechanical LSD to an electronically simulated LSD that uses the brakes to prevent wheel slip. A lot of people think the mechanical one is better, I tend to agree. If you off-road with your truck a lot, you should get a locker, you won't regret it.

A limited slip is only capable of transferring about 15% of the power from one wheel to the other, so it's just for helping get traction in slippery conditions during normal driving. It's better than an open diff, but for off-roading a locker is the only way to go.

 

With light wheeling the limited slip will be fine. I wheeled the hell out a rig years ago that had a limited slip as part of its of f road package. I never wished for a locker and always had excellent traction. Wheeling in New Hampshire is rocky, muddy, or any combination of the above on old logging trails or long abandoned roads.

Beavis can back me up on the off road abilities of a LSD equipped 1st gen nissan pathfinder.